2024 Road to Memorial Cup: QMJHL Championship Series preview
The top two teams in the QMJHL will rightfully meet for the Gilles Courteau Trophy.
Baie-Comeau, winners of a CHL best 53 games in the regular season, will face Western Conference winners Drummondville in what will be a highly anticipated series.
The Drakkar have yet to taste QMJHL glory while the Volts have one championship to their name that came in 2009.
During the regular season, the teams met three times with the Volts taking the season series 3-1-0.
(1) Baie-Comeau vs. (1) Drummondville
After a 53-win, 109-point regular season, the Drakkar have rolled through the postseason thus far with a 12-1 record.
In their third round series with Cape Breton, they Drakkar jumped out to a 2-0 series lead. Charles-Edward Gravel had a 26-save shutout in Game 1 while Justin Gill (NYI) had a hat-trick in a 5-3 win in Game 2.
Baie-Comeau suffered their first defeat of the postseason in Game 3 after a 2-1 loss but rebounded in a big way in Game 4 after an 8-2 win where Justin Poirier scored four times. They closed out the series in style on home ice after Jules Boilard had the game-winner in overtime in Game 5.
All in all, Poirier had seven goals and 11 points in the series while Gill (nine points) and Isaac Dufort (six points) also contributed offensively. Gravel posted a 1.47 GAA and .946 save percentage across five games.
Anthony Lavoie or Jules Boilard with the OT Winner?
The @DrakkarBAC don't care, they're heading to the FINAL! #RoadtoMemorialCup pic.twitter.com/fm9MhsvAd3— Canadian Hockey League (@CHLHockey) May 3, 2024
The Drakkar swept both Charlottetown and Acadie-Bathurst in the first two rounds.
Poirier’s 17 goals leads all CHL skaters in the postseason while he leads the Q in scoring with 25 points. Gill sits one point behind and leads the QMJHL with 14 assists while the Drakkar as a whole average 4.38 goals per game. Gravel owns a 1.89 GAA and .924 save percentage.
This year marks the third time the Drakkar have reached the QMJHL Finals where they are still in search of a first title after coming up short in 2013 and 2014.
Drummondville will play for a QMJHL title for the first time since 2009.
The Volts needed just five games to take out Victoriaville in the third round and move to 12-3 in the postseason.
After 2-1 and 5-1 wins in Game’s 1 and 2, the Volts went ahead 3-0 after a 3-2 road win courtesy of Justin Cote’s game-winner. Benjamin Vigneault forced a Game 5 with the overtime winner in a 3-2 Victoriaville victory but the Volts secured their spot in the QMJHL finals courtesy of Alexis Gendron’s overtime goal in a 3-2 win.
11 seconds into overtime, #LetsGoFlyers prospect Alexis Gendron tips in the game-winner to send the @VoltigeursDRU to the @QMJHL finals! #RoadtoMemorialCup
— Canadian Hockey League (@CHLHockey) May 4, 2024
Riley Mercer tallied a 1.79 GAA and .944 save percentage in the series while Gendron and Mikael Huchette led the way offensively with six points.
Ethan Gauthier (TB) sits tied fourth in QMJHL postseason scoring with 20 points while he is one of just four players to record double digit goals. Seven other players have already recorded at least 11 points during the playoffs while the Volts’ 67 goals leads all clubs. Mercer leads all QMJHL goalies with a .927 save percentage while his 2.07 GAA ranks second.
Drummondville have reached the QMJHL Finals on four previous occasions but their lone success came in 2009 when they beat Shawinigan in Game 7.
Series schedule:
Game 1 — May 9 — DRU @ BAC — 7pm ET / 4pm PT
Game 2 — May 10 — DRU @ BAC — 7pm ET / 4pm PT
Game 3 — May 13 — BAC @ DRU — 7pm ET / 4pm PT
Game 4 — May 14 — BAC @ DRU — 7pm ET / 4pm PT
Game 5* — May 16 — DRU @ BAC — 7pm ET / 4pm PT
Game 6* — May 18 — BAC @ DRU — 7pm ET / 4pm PT
Game 7* — May 21 — DRU @ BAC — 7pm ET / 4pm PT
*if necessary
Watch live
TSN will provide complete coverage of the WHL, OHL, and QMJHL Championship Series beginning with Game 1 while RDS will showcase the QMJHL Championship Series from Game 1 onward. Full coverage of the WHL, OHL, and QMJHL Championship Series will also be available on CHL TV to fans worldwide while select games will air on NHL Network in the United States.